There’s really no hard and fast rule, but I’m sure it’s difficult when actors in the same age range have the same first name hijinks ensue. And, when I say hijinks I of course mean that I forgot which is which. It’s happening right now in the form of Chris Pine and Chris Evans who I still end up mixing up crazily. I swear, I was having an argument with myself where I was convinced that it was Chris Pine who was in Fantastic Four. Obviously, I was wrong – it turns out the only is Star Trek (and that Diane Keaton TV movie Surrender, Dorothy - but that doesn’t count, I can’t remember him in it).
I’ve seen a lot more of Evans work (Not Another Teen Movie, Cellular, The Perfect Score, The Nanny Diariesand more recently Captain America) and he seems interesting enough in that bland way but he’s hardly riveting. The reason the Chris versus Chris battle comes to mind is because Heathers was on recently and I remembered there was a time when Christian Slater did more than star in bad TV shows. Of course, there’s only room for one Christian now (the Oscar winning one) but I have to admit that circa 1999 I was more interested Slater than I was in Bale. Oddly, it comes down to their two Winona Ryder films – Slater in Heathers and Bale in Little Women. And, even though, on a literary front Little Women is unbeatable, I’m not a big fan of 1994 version (although Bale is good in it), so Slater sort of wins by default - although he's terribly hilarious in Heathers so it's probably not just default - he's so easily the MVP in Heathers.
Looking at their résumés, it wasn’t until 2000 when the two really went separate ways Bale had American Psycho, and he’s been unstoppable since. Shame for Slater. For now, I’d say that Chris Evans and Chris Pine are evenly matched but who knows which will get a big break in the next fifteen years or so and turn into an Oscar winning performer?
And just because I’m feeling nostalgic – another poll...which Christian/Winona match-up triumphs?
